Diels-Alder transform

The example below shows some of the synthetic routes generated by the Diels Alder transform for the indicated precursor. It is important to note that while some of the chemistry may look somewhat naive, it can be quite thought provoking. 

ACS Symposium Series Ameriean Chemieal Soeiety Washington, DC, 1977. 

In terms of newer chemistry, the sample sequence shown below was generated by the iodo-lactonization transform. 

It is clear that designing a synthesis of a ring with so many stereocenters presents a formidable challenge for most synthetic chemists. 

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Given structure 1 as a target and the recognition that it contains the retron for the Diels-Alder transform, the application of that transform to 1 to generate synthetic precursor 2 is straightforward. The problem of synthesis of 1 is then reduced retrosynthetically to the simpler... 

On the basis of the preceding discussion the reader should be able to derive retrosynthetic schemes for the construction of targets 6, 7, and 8 based on the Diels-Alder transform. 

Once a particular 6-membered ring is selected as a site for applying the Diels-Alder transform, six possible [4 + 2] disconnections can be examined, i.e. there are six possible locations of the Jt-bond of the basic Diels-Alder retron. With ring numbering as shown in 36, and... 

Estrone (54, Chart 6) contains a full retron for the o-quinonemethide-Diels-Alder transform which can be directly applied to give 55. This situation, in which the Diels-Alder transform is used early in the retrosynthetic analysis, contrasts with the case of ibogamine (above), or, for example, gibberellic acid (section 6.4), and a Diels-Alder pathway is relatively easy to find and to evaluate. As indicated in Chart 6, retrosynthetic conversion of estrone to 55 produces an intermediate which is subject to further rapid simplification. This general synthetic approach has successfully been applied to estrone and various analogs. ... 

Structural subgoals may be useful in the application of transform-based strategies. This is especially so with structurally complex retrons which can be mapped onto a target in only one or two ways. It is often possible in such cases quickly to derive the structure of a possible intermediate in a trial retrosynthetic sequence. For instance, with 109 as TGT the quinone-Diels-Alder transform is an obvious T-goal. The retron for that transform can readily be mapped... 

The retrosynthetic analysis of fumagillol, the alcohol from which the antibiotic fumagillin is derived, has been outlined in Section 2.3. The experimentally demonstrated synthesis of fumagillol was derived by T-goal directed search to apply the Diels-Alder transform. 

Diisocyanoadociane, a novel marine-derived diterpenoid, was analyzed retrosynthetically using the intramolecular Diels-Alder transform as T-goal concurrently with topological and stereochemical guidance. The enantioselective synthesis outlined below allowed assignment of absolute configuration. 

Ott M. A., Noordik J. H. Long-Range Strategies in the LHASA Program The Quinone Diels-Alder Transform J. Chem. Inf. Comput. Sci. 1997 37 98 108 Keywords computer application, quinone Diels-Alder transformations... 

Associated to copper(II) pre-catalysts, bis(oxazolines) also allowed the asymmetric Diels-Alder and hetero Diels-Alder transformations to be achieved in nearly quantitative yield and high diastereo- and enantioselectivities. Optically active sulfoximines, with their nitrogen-coordinating site located at close proximity to the stereogenic sulfur atom, have also proven their efficiency as copper ligands for these asymmetric cycloadditions. Other precursors for this Lewis acid-catalyzed transformation have been described (e.g., zinc salts, ruthenium derivatives, or rare earth complexes) which, when associated to bis(oxazolines), pyridine-oxazolines or pyridine-bis(oxazolines), led to efficient catalysts. 

Ghosh et al. [70] reviewed a few years ago the utihty of C2-symmetric chiral bis(oxazoline)-metal complexes for catalytic asymmetric synthesis, and they reserved an important place for Diels-Alder and related transformations. Bis(oxazoline) copper(II)triflate derivatives have been indeed described by Evans et al. as effective catalysts for the asymmetric Diels-Alder reaction [71]. The bis(oxazoline) Ugand 54 allowed the Diels-Alder transformation of two-point binding N-acylimide dienophiles with good yields, good diastereos-electivities (in favor of the endo diastereoisomer) and excellent ee values (up to 99%) [72]. These substrates represent the standard test for new catalysts development. To widen the use of Lewis acidic chiral Cu(ll) complexes, Evans et al. prepared and tested bis(oxazoHnyl)pyridine (PyBOx, structure 55, Scheme 26) as ligand [73]. 

Numerous articles have been devoted to the synthesis of structurally modified bis(oxazoline) ligands and to their ability to promote enantios-elective Diels-Alder transformations. For example, Davies et al. [74] synthesized and tested several Evans-type auxiliaries, i.e., bis(oxazolines) or pyridine-bis(oxazolines), bearing various sterically-hindering substituents. The best results were obtained according to the conditions presented in Scheme 26, and afforded the endo diastereomer with 95% ee by using ligand 58 (Scheme 28). 

M.A. Ott and J.H. Noordik, Long-range strategies in the LHASA program the Quinone Diels-Alder transform. J. Chem. Inf. Comput. Sci., 37 (1997) 98-108. 

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